Roadshow: Oakland protesters had I-880 driver fearing for his safety

Q Monday night I was on Interstate 880 passing through downtown Oakland in lane No. 1 next to the median doing about 65 mph. The shoulder in this area is very narrow, maybe about a foot wide.

As I came into the area I saw a large and unruly mob of people, several hundred, completely blocking the northbound lanes. There was only one police car in sight and the policemen were in it. I immediately put on my right-turn signal in an attempt to stay away from the mob.

However, the car in the lane to my right immediately sped up, blocking my ability to move that way. Then the mob came over the median guardrail. I became very concerned and slowed to ensure that I did not hit one of these people.

But I feared for my safety and that if I stopped I would have been attacked. Fortunately, I was able to move past the mob very slowly so no one was injured and I did not have to stop. What is the right thing to do in this situation? You certainly do not want to injure a person but you do not want to be attacked either.

Dick Heuser

Fremont

A You handled this about as well as anyone could have. Slow down but keep moving if you can. The crowd was protesting the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. While protests throughout the country have been numerous, most have been peaceful. Oakland and Los Angeles are two exceptions, and those people who foolishly closed the freeway put themselves and you at great risk.

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Q I was a little behind reading Roadshow and just caught up with the letters about the new Bay Bridge. I have to tell you, I was disappointed in your responses.

Bruce Stryd

Fremont

A Why is that?

Q There is zero question that the new bridge in whatever condition is hundreds of time more safe than the old bridge. But you let people make statements about it lacking safety and did not correct the misinformation. You usually do set facts straight, so I was pretty miffed at this. This is not a question of opinion but of facts and engineering facts at that. Your reading public deserved better -- and you usually do better.

Bruce Stryd

A OK, try this. Lisa Vorderbrueggen of the Bay Area News Group reported earlier this week that "dozens of internationally renowned bridge engineers and other experts have investigated every one of the high-profile construction setbacks and declared them either untrue, resolved or, in the case of the snapped bolts, fixable."

Frieder Seible, Toll Bridge Seismic Safety Peer Review Panel chairman, also reassured Bay Area officials that the state "is going way overboard to make sure everything is inspected and done in the best possible way." Seible and two colleagues are so confident in the span's safety that they pleaded with bridge officials to reverse the decision to postpone the Sept. 3 opening until after contractors repair the broken rods.

Q I sure hope they don't award bonuses when they finish the new bridge. Are bonuses being considered?

Mary Lee and others

A Bonuses of $20 million may be canceled for contractors handling the seismic work, plus penalties of $100,000 a day may be levied after Nov. 30 if work isn't done by then.

Q We have been wondering for a long time how the pedestrian walkway will work for the new Bay Bridge. Can you help clear this up?

Dan Craver

Emeryville

A The bike/pedestrian path will run from the Ikea store in Emeryville under the Maze, and then south of and parallel to Interstate 80. It will connect to the eastbound deck on the south side of the new bridge. The bike path will hang slightly away from the bridge, with a vent to draw away exhaust from passing cars.

The bike lane will partially open when the bridge opens to traffic in a few months to the end of the self-anchored suspension bridge, but it will be two years before it will go out to Yerba Buena Island and end there.